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The Slaughter of Nahuatl
The Slaughter of Nahuatl In Autumn of Year 0 the Saurian City of Nahuatl was besieged from both sides by Underboss Craggdar to the north and Lokin to the south. The siege was a bloody affair, with the saurian defenders overwhelmed on both sides. The troops that arrived to relieve the garrison were also slaughtered. At the end of the bloody battle, Nahuatl was in the hands of Craggdar’s goblin hordes and their berserk gnashers. Prelude Tensions existed between The Elven Realm of Tor Alindril and The World's Edge Mountains from the outset of Year 0. Over the summer, the highborn elves captured the Dwarven Hold of Bhonlodar, infuriating Warlord Skarsnik who had hoped to claim the city as a glorious prize. In the early stages of autumn, the forces of Tor Alindril expanded their borders to push up against Skarsnik’s realm. In the east of Dancing Chrysalis, Craggdar and Lokin both attempted to seize the Saurian City of Nahuatl in the hopes of securing their borders before the inevitable outbreak of war. The Saurians themselves had not expected an attack – Skarsnik had promised the world that he would remain peaceful until at least winter, while the elves of Tor Alindril had always been friends of the lizardfolk. As such, half of the city’s garrison were outside of the city hunting in the jungle. The Siege Begins Craggdar’s horde gathered to the north of Nahuatl and set up camp. They began the construction of a siege tower and commenced the digging of tunnels to undermine the walls of the city. To the south, Lokin also ordered the construction of a siege tower, as well as a battering ram. The elves also began a ritual, hoping to disrupt the ground beneath Nahuatl’s walls. The Coatl Lord of Nahuatl psychically contacted the forces still hunting in the jungles – unfortunately they were months away, though they made for the city immediately. The two attacking armies continued their siege two and a half months. Almost half of the defenders starved to death. The survivors prepared for the worst. The Assault Craggdar made the first move. Without any artillery with which to destroy the walls, he had to rely on his engineers (who were not the smartest) to bring down the walls with their tunnels. The engineers failed to damage the walls; in fact, due to their diminished intellect, their tunnels veered away from the city. It is possible they are still digging to this day. Seeing the goblins preparing for an assault, Lokin ordered his forces to ready themselves immediately. Unable to finish the earth-shattering ritual, Lokin’s mage was unable to bring down the walls. Recognising an assault was imminent, the crew of a taurosaur fired their great bow at the elven bolt throwers, rendering one useless. The goblin forces surged forward. Two scrap wagons loaded with explosives lurched towards to the walls, as did a group of mushroom-addled goblins carrying bombs. A siege tower filled with hungry gnashers trundled slowly towards one of the defender’s towers. In the goblin centre, Craggdar led a huge horde of his fellows and an enormous gnasher towards the city walls. His shaman advisor threw magical fire at the defenders, immolating many skinks. Return fire from their bows took down scores of goblins and blew up an explosive goblin, but the horde continued on. On Craggdar’s right flank a collection of bouncing gnashers and riders hurtled towards the city. Heeding warnings from his scouts of a relief force approaching, Craggdar corralled his grotling pets to guard the eastern gate to the city and ordered his two gnasher wrecking teams to whirl around at the edges of the jungle. The elves moved steadily towards the southern walls. Great eagles attempted to wrestle control of the defences from two spearbacks, but both fell to the lizards’ spikes. A unit of Knights of Ryma charged across Nahuatl’s swampy moat, dismounted their steeds and scaled the walls to fight the saurian defenders. Elven archers attempted to snipe the defenders from the walls to no avail. In the centre, the battering ram rolled towards the walls, while on its right the siege tower bristling with spearmen also moved forward. The Goblins Scale the Walls The northern walls were hit hard by the goblin forces. Their right flank of gnasher riders bounced up onto the walls and slaughtered the defenders. Both scrap wagons smashed into the walls. One severely damaged a section, while the other left only scorch marks. In the centre, the gigantic gnasher plowed into the walls, while to its left the siege tower pushed forward, opened its doors, and let loose a plague of gnashers onto the walls. The entire northern wall was now in control of the goblins. The Elves Push Forward On the opposite side, the Knights of Ryma claimed the wall section they were attacking, though found themselves attacked from adjacent wall sections. Lokin himself assaulted the walls with assistance from the spearmen in the siege tower. In the elven centre, the mage attempted to draw upon the winds of magic, but over-estimated his abilities. The resulting magical disruption mortally wounded him and vaporised his entire escort of highborn lancers. Despite this setback, the elves had secured a hold on much of the southern wall. The Attack Continues The gnasher riders on the goblin right flank continued their rampage, spilling over the walls towards the city’s central tower, where the Coatl Lord held fast. The enormous gnasher continued to headbutt the walls to no avail, while its smaller siblings moved across the defences into a tower adjacent to the gates held by a stoic unit of caiman. Lokin and his dragon moved onto the next section of wall, while the spearmen entered the city and headed toward the gates being threatened by the gnashers. In the elven centre, the badly wounded mage was hit by an arrow from the taurosaur’s great bow and did not get back up. The Knights of Ryma continued to defend their newly claimed wall, this time against a unit of saurians led by a mighty hero! In the centre of the city, the gnasher riders launched their attack on the Coatl Lord’s central tower, chomping the bloated noble to death. At the eastern gates, the gnashers attacked the caiman defenders, but failed to force them from the walls. A unit of goblin archers scaled the northern walls and readied their bows. Lokin continued to move from section to section towards the central tower in the hopes of driving the goblins from it. The Knights of Ryma finally secured their wall section. Their standard bearer held his banner aloft in a show of victory. On the opposite side of the city, the banner was spotted by the keen eyes of the goblin archers on the northern walls. Despite their tired arms, the range of the shot, and the cover afforded by the walls, the goblins managed to slay two of the remaining four elven knights. Totally exhausted and surrounded by the dead, the knights lost their nerve and jumped from the walls. Both landed in the moat and were pulled down and drowned in their heavy armour. At the eastern gate the gnasher herd finished feasting on the caiman and occupied the section, only to be charged immediately by the elven spearmen. Following a bloody encounter, the gnashers almost broke, but swayed by the sight of their battle standard, continued to hold the gates. Reinforcements Arrive To the north of the city, the jungles began to rustle. From them emerged four units of skink hunters and a saurian atop a carnosaur – the reinforcements had arrived! The scene before them was one of total carnage. Just metres ahead, two crazed gnasher wrecking teams flew around in a rage. A huge gnasher was busy dashing itself senseless upon the city walls, while a red horde of gnashing teeth occupied the eastern gate. The gate itself was blocked by a seething tide of grotlings. Before the skinks could even take in the situation, one of the wrecking teams ploughed through them. One group suffered horrendous losses and fled back into the jungle, while another two joined them in terror. The Siege Ends Lokin assaulted the central tower, slaughtering the gnasher riders occupying it. Enraged and desperate, the Taurosaur crew goaded their mount into charging the base of the tower. With a mighty crunch, the enormous beast smashed the foundations to dust, and the tower collapsed and Lokin disappeared into the rubble. Despite their best efforts, the elven spearmen could not dislodge the gnasher herds from the eastern gate, and the saurian atop the carnosaur could not get past the tide of grotlings. The city of Nahuatl was lost to the goblins. Those elves still within the walls were fed to the gnashers, though Lokin’s body could not be found within the rubble of the central tower.